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Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Double Digit Dance

I broke double digits for the first time in TWO months.

I threw a double digit party and did a double digit dance on the trail when I finished.

I certainly didn't intend on achieving this mightiest of goals; it just sort of happened. As I said before, when in Palos! Geof and I set out for Palos' Little Red Schoolhouse trails and singletrack again on Saturday. Geof was looking for a 20 miler and I was looking for 5 running miles, and 3-4 hiking miles after that. I just wanted to soak in the warm weather and sunshine we were gifted with that day. But then something happened, things just...worked. My legs said, "help me, help you." So I did! Maybe it was the LaSportiva Wildcats I was wearing, or maybe it was the Shot Bloks I ate. Most likely it was the two months of almost zero running and tons of PT work, swimming and biking that did it :) Bam.

Along the way, we ran into fellow CHUGette, Torey and her pup Charlie, out for a run on the black trail. Great seeing you Ms. Jones!! I was feeling swell enough to continue on after 5 miles, so I hung with Geof and we closed out the yellow and black trails before Geof turned to go do more loops and I headed back towards the car. Before finishing up, though, I turned onto the White Oak Trail to round out the 10 miles. Gotta make it legit.

Things were happy. Calves, knees, popliteous, feet, ankles. Thanks for hanging in there legs, I really do appreciate it :)

I made sure to stretch and massage while I waited for Geof to get back. I also soaked in the sun while doing some high quality people watching. "Woodpeckers peck wood!" exclaimed a little boy examining the trunk of a tree. He had on a fisherman hat and cowboy boots on the wrong feet. He then took off after another little boy, dressed identically, and they chased each other in circles. It's neat to observe a kid running; they have excellent mechanics before they grow up and we tell them how to "fix" it. People were out en masse that day; it was just so gorgeous out!

Monday morning, I headed out for a run and was pleasantly surprised by how good it felt. I stopped myself at 4 miles, not wanting to press my luck, and was very happy with that. I have now officially run more in the first 12 days of April than I did in the 31 days of March :)

I'm starting to get a little bit excited about Leadville. Now that we have our accomodations set and crew/pacers lined up, it's going to start becoming very real, very soon. Heck, come May, I might even start training for it :)

But, first, I'm going to relish the little victories I achieve along the way, like pain free running and morning 4-milers.

6 comments:

Brian - right now, G's friend Rina is going to do some pacing and maybe also another one of his friends, Tom, if he's up to the task. With so many peeps that are going to be out on the course, it'll be tough to get too lonely! Hey, maybe if I do some speed training (!) I'll be able to keep up with you and we can be racer pacers for each other, lol :-)

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"What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That is what life means and what life is for." ~ George Mallory, 1922

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"Your outlook on life is a direct reflection of how much you like yourself." ~ Lululemon

"If you start to feel good during an ultra, don't worry, you'll get over it." ~Thibeault

"The core of a man's spirit comes from new experiences." ~Chris McCandless

"Circumstance has no value. It is how one relates to a situation that has value. All true meaning resides in the personal relationship to a phenomenon, what it means to you." ~Chris McCandless

Must Reads

"Life of Pi" Yann Martel

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"Omnivore's Dilemma" Michael Pollan

"The Alchemist" Paulo Coehlo

"Crossing to Safety" Wallace Stegner

"Merle's Door" Ted Kerasote

"The Way of the Peaceful Warrior" Dan Millman

"Running Through The Wall: Personal Encounters with the Ultramarathon" Neal Jamison

"Buddha" Deepak Chopra

"Into The Wild" John Krakauer

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